Hannah Voigt

Professor Rhonda Jackson Joseph

Composition 1302

30 April 2017

The Need for Stricter Gun Control Laws

In light of the devastations, such as the shooting of Sandy Hook in Connecticut, the

United States Congress should impose stronger gun control laws across the nation. On the other

hand, advocates opposing gun control prompt a conflicting debate between the two sides.

Although both sides present steady arguments, the facts stand true that acquiring stronger laws

for gun control surrounding our education system need to be enforced and implemented to

maintain a safe environment and prevent any future incidents. As a not so silent plea for justice

from the multiple shootings that have occurred over the past years, there has been many

instances where society has publicly demanded for stricter gun control laws. In the future, to

maintain a safer environment for the young elementary children, high school students, college

students, and the teachers and faculty of our nations learning institutions, we must tighten the

laws, security, and safety of not only gun control, but the effects it protrudes onto school

campuses.

The controversy surrounds one statement inside one important document, the United

States constitution. The second amendment of the U.S. constitution states that being necessary

to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be

infringed. However, the times between now and 1791 have drastically changed. The problem

being, that over the years the nation has grown surpassing the basic construction of the

constitutional amendments. With efforts to evolve our constitution, many have petitioned, rallied,

and rioted for a new law surrounding the right to bear arms. When it comes to schools,
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universities, and institutions there has been laws adopted banning the carry of guns and weapons.

There have recently been numerous instances where college students, and campus intruders, go

on shooting rampages. This not only is a fault between the shooter and the gun, but the

protection, and security the schools are provided with. Ensuring that each campus has trained and

reliable embodied security is a must for equal attainment of education. In states such as Texas,

Colorado, Tennessee, Utah, and Idaho concealed guns are allowed by law. However, in other

states such as California, New Mexico, Illinois, Wyoming, and Louisiana guns are prohibited on

school campuses. The examples are to show that the nation varies upon the issue of gun control.

In the eyes of many, gun control has not only caused plenty of controversy, but it has allotted for

a decision of many to implement stricter laws preventing the weapons from falling into the

wrong hands and taking the wrong lives (Speak Up).

From the ways we operate our defense systems, all the way to how far we have come

with technology, there ultimately has become unlimited ways to bypass how those without

proper qualifications attain weapons. Background checks have been one way many who should

and should not have rights to own a gun, do. A bill to strengthen the federal background-check

system for gun purchasers is gaining support on Capitol Hill, even from the powerful National

Rifle Association. But some gun advocates want states to ease weapons laws. They argue that

allowing more people to carry weapons will deter gun crimes and enable potential victims to

protect themselves (Jost). Studies have shown that when conducting the proper background

checks, there was a forty percent decrease in gun homicide deaths and almost a fifteen percent

drop in gun suicides. Furthermore, the amount of deaths concluded from unauthorized or

illegally purchased guns decreased. However, there is still the downfall of a black market and its

effects of the selling and purchasing of illegal weapons. Within a black market the selling and
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purchasing is done without any background check or proper registration of the weapons being

traded. For those in different situations, such as the shooting in the Aurora movie theater in

Colorado and the attack at the African Methodist Episcopal church shooting in South Carolina,

the guns were reported as legally purchased. On school campuses, most of the attacks or

massacres happen by surprise, which for one means the employees need proper training, but also

the campuses should be supplied with trained security to better the safety of students and faculty

(Chuck).

In recent times, the U.S. has controversially debated upon the banning of certain

weapons. For example, the shooter from the Sandy Hook elementary massacre Adam Lanza, he

was said to have a Bushmaster AR 15, which is an assault semiautomatic rifle weapon that

rapidly fires high-velocity rounds. In this case, Lanza used a weapon which should not be as easy

to attain when withholding so much power. Advocates for stricter gun control laws place

educational instances at the top of the list. For those attaining an education to become our future,

thy need the reassurance that they are being provided a safe and essentially a weapon free

environment. To fix and further prevent any future attacks the protection by the schools security

should be trained to react in those situations. As for students and teachers, drills should be set in

place and practiced to allow the utmost safety from classroom to classroom. When parents send

off their child to college, the first thing they want to know is how safe the campus, dorms, and

surrounding area is, and the last thing they should worry about is whether the campus allows

students, professors, and faculty to abide by the open carry. On college campuses, there should

always be campus police allowed to carry their gun, being that they are trained professionals

responding to the protection of their community. Research shows that when students were asked

if allowing professors to carry guns would provide a safer environment, a smaller amount of
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student responded and said that if only campus police, no students, no professors, and or building

assistants were allowed to carry, it would create a safer feeling and what seems as a total ban on

weapons across campuses (Roth and Haman). Diminishing the amount of violence campus wide

is the goal and placing a ban on the weapons has both its negatives and positives. (Birnbaum)

On the other hand, increasing the number of police and security on campuses provides

more benefits than potential downfalls. Supplying the trained police with guns will ensure the

proper training and skill to use the weapons when an emergency situation is taking place. For

example, having the trained officers and security teams available when there is an attack

decreases the number of possible killings due to gun violence opposed to having a smaller

amount of protection. At the age of eighteen, only eighteen, one is allowed to legally purchase a

gun. Being that high school students can turn eighteen their senior year, this places perspective

upon the reality that a student has the capability to place a gun in their backpack, car, or locker,

and harmfully use it on someone who was potentially a bully. In this event, or any event if an

eighteen-year-old can own a gun, mentally unstable beings, and anyone whos brain has not fully

developed, which happens around the age of twenty-five, should not be allowed to own a gun,

prompting them to act off their disadvantage and inexperience. It is one thing to be able to

purchase a gun so young, but its another when the gun is placed into the hands of a mentally

unstable being. For example, the shooter of Sandy Hook reportedly had significant

developmental challenges throughout childhood, which in one way that prompted him to act so

(Wozniak).

With test taking, studying, and a social life, it has already shown to take a toll on the

emotional status of college students. Emotional stability and maturity are two of the more

important essential to have before even thinking of being background checked to purchase a
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weapon with the power to take someones life. With the effects leading to more instability,

allowing guns to be placed on college campuses in the wrong hands takes a toll, on the amount

of violence, the campuses can and can not control. Despite the fact that many people buy guns

for protection, they are wrongfully used day to day. The certification process should be taken

more seriously, and the black market of weapons, such as guns, needs to be demolished. The

training that comes with the responsibility of owning a firearm should allow the owners to know

the liability they have granted to using their weapons. By addressing that the need for gun

control is important, many petitions and protesting takes place daily. Whether it be across the

internet through Facebook, twitter, Instagram, or in person marching down streets filled with

people who have been affected by the violence, the message has been received that enough is

enough (Wasserman). In the end, when it comes to gun control laws, they need to be stricter. The

safety of students and faculty raising the future is in jeopardy due to the attainment of harmful

weapons. To tighten the security, and establish stricter gun control laws it would create a safer

environment for campuses across the United States and prevent any further attacks.
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Works Cited

Birnbaum, Robert. Ready, Fire, Aim: The College Camous Gun Fight. Change, vol. 45, no. 5,

Sep/Oct 2013, pp. 6-14, EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00091383.2013.812462.

Chuck, Raasch. NRA to Talk about Shooting. USA Today, n.d. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=J0E077628351012&site=ehots-live.

Jost, Kenneth. Gun Violence: Are Stronger Measures Needed to Protect Society?. CQ

Researcher, vol.17, no. 20, 25 May 2007, pp. 457-480. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=119985047&site=ehost-live.

Roth, Alex and Ansley Haman. An Uphill Fight for the Right to Carry Guns on Campus. Wall

Street Journal- Easter Edition, vol. 245, no. 6, 08 July2009, p. A13. EBSCOhost.

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=4342023&site=ehost-live.

Speak Up: SHOULD Police Be Allowed to Take Guns into Schools?. Northern Territory

News (Includes Sunday Territorian), 12 Dec. 2013, p.13. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspz? direct=true&db=nfh&AN=9X9NTNNTN-20131212-1-

013-321265&site=ehost-live.

Wasserman, Lewis M. Gun Control on College and University Campuses in the Wake of

District of Columbia V. Heller and Mcdonald V. City of Chicago. Virginia Journal of

Social Policy & the Law, vol. 19, no.1, Dec. 2011, pp. 1-57. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspz? direct=true&db=nfh&AN=73913847&site=ehost-live

Wozniak, Kevin H. Public Opinion about Gun Control Post- Sandy Hook. Criminal Justice

Policy Review, vol. 28, no.3, Apr. 2017, pp. 255-278. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1177/0887403415577192.
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